


Nomenclature

by Awkwardly_social



Series: The Nomenclature Series [1]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Angst, Angsty lance, Holy crap lots of angst, Mexican Lance (Voltron), Minor Violence, Recreational Drug Use, Sad lance, lots of feels, nonbinary pidge
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-07-10
Updated: 2016-07-28
Packaged: 2018-07-22 16:08:07
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 7
Words: 7,885
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7445407
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Awkwardly_social/pseuds/Awkwardly_social
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It took almost five months to find Lance after the wormhole. And when they finally do, they're stuck on the planet until the castle can come get them. Lance takes the opportunity to teach the team a little about the planet and a little bit about himself along the way.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Magnetic Forces and Pissy Cats

Five months. That’s how long it had been since the wormhole. Most of the team had been located soon after, the longest so far being Hunk who had waited for a mere three weeks. Lance was the exception. Allura couldn’t track him till now; something to do with the planets magnetic readings, something that messed with the sensors. Even though she knew where the lion was now there was no telling if Lance was even alive, eventually leading to the paladins taking a small pod down to the planet towards where the blue lion lay. 

\----------

As the group landed the first thing they took in was the blue lion, sprawled on its side, mouth hanging open. There was a clear trail behind it, life slowly trickling back where the ridge was dug. As they neared the mouth, they readied their Bayards. Best to be ready for anything. 

“I hope he’s okay” Hunk muttered, eyes glancing side to side clearly unnerved. Everyone murmured their agreements, Shiro supplying him a reassuring nod. They were prepared for Galra or a dead body. What they didn’t expect was a cat-like creature to hiss at them from inside the lion’s jaws. 

Cat-like was a bit of a leap. From shoulders up it was accurate, however its legs appeared to be made of quite a few tentacle like appendages. Its tail was the same, but longer and overall it was yellow fading to orange towards its ‘feet.’ A voice from inside the lion had them forgetting about the creature all together. “You better not be growling at the rats again Churro! I already fed you today!”

Shiro took the initiative, calling out “Lance?! It’s us! We came to get you!” 

“Guys?!” Lance came running out of the lion, smile plastered to his face dashing past ‘Churro’ and down towards the group. “Man am I relieved to see you!” His face scrunched together in a questioning frown. “Why are you all staring like that?”

Shiro glanced around behind him at the shocked looks that mirrored his own. Turning back toward Lance, he looked the blue paladin up and down before meeting his eyes once more. “Lance, what happened to you?” 

Lance looked at himself, at first in confusion before his features settled into a grimace. “Oh, yeah….” His hand traced over the slash mark on the left his jaw as his eyes roamed over the more major of injuries he’d collected over the months. Teeth mark scars in his right bicep, a spiral bruise on his left forearm colored purple with green on the edges. His right shin had angry red burns that had clearly been there for a while. Not to mention he was scraped up in general. He glanced back at the group, eyes meeting those of his team one by one. “Had to learn the hard way a few times. Most of this planet is carnivorous. My armor did its job when I crashed but it was too broken to risk running around in. I was lucky I kept a change of clothes and rations packed away. They only lasted so long though.” He scratched the back of his head awkwardly. Smiling, he continued, “But hey you guys are here now so we can get back to the castle!” 

Hunk rushed forward, gathering Lance in his arms and lifting him off the ground, “I missed you so much buddy! Let’s go home.” 

Lance laughed, cringing a little when Hunk set him down. He was still a little sore okay? It was Allura’s voice over Shiro’s com that grabbed everyone’s attention. 

“Paladins, we may have a problem. We can’t get you off the planet”

Shiro looked up, his eyebrows coming together in concern. “Why not?”

Coran’s voice rang out, “It’s the planets magnetic forces. The same ones that messed with our scanners are preventing us from coming down to collect the blue lion safely. Your pod has probably already been affected. It won’t be able to fly. Exposure for too long damages the equipment.”

Lance paled, voice shaking. “Coran, how long are we stuck here?”

Allura’s voice answered calmly, “The castle should be able to build up energy and with enough in reserves we can come collect you safely.”

Pidge spoke out gently, “Allura how long is that going to take? The castle isn’t exactly in tip top condition.”

The silence weighed over them, broken by a deep sigh. “About two weeks from our calculations. Will you be okay?” 

Lance spoke up a little more steadily, “We’ll be fine Allura. I’ll take pity on these poor souls and keep them alive like the brave hero I am.” That earned Lance a chuckle. 

“Very well. Glad to know you’re alive Lance. Our communications are going to be cut for maximum charging capabilities. We’ll come and collect you when we’re ready.” With that the line clicked closed.

Lance smiled wide, the scar on his chin stretching with it. “Guess you guys are stuck here for a little while.”


	2. Hunks-Hugs and Allura's Whisper

Almost on queue Hunk’s stomach growls, a small flush creeping over his face. “Sorry, hungry.”

Lance smiles, reaching into a grey pouch attached to his belt and pulling out a small fruit holding it towards Hunk. “This,” Pause for dramatic effect, “is a Loop-de-Fruit. Taste kind of like a cross between a lemon and an orange. Pretty good though.”

Hunk takes it and twists it around for a moment, it’s shaped like corkscrew pasta. A gentle looking yellow-orange skin covers it and without much thought Hunk popped the treat into his mouth. A pleased hum leaves him as he swallows. “You guys should try this it’s really good.”

Lance nods. “I’ve got enough for everybody to have one for now. But unless you guys brought rations I’m gonna need to go out tomorrow and get more.”

Pidge walks forward from the group holding out their hand. As their own berry is gifted to them they speak up, “What did you call these again? Loop-de-Fruit? Did you name it that yourself?” Lance nods and Pidge continues. “I imagined. Did you name anything else? Surely that can’t be it.”

Lance smiles, “Yeah, I had some free time.” He pauses for a moment. “Hey, have you guys met Churro?”

Shiro looks around for a moment before leaning in, “Who’s Churro?”

Lances smile grows wider before turning around clicking with his tongue like he was calling a cat. On queue the creature from before crawls (slithers?) out and plops down next to Lance.

Hunk would claim later that his scream was a manly one. “Lance what are you doing that thing tried to kill us earlier?!”

Lance laughs and flops down onto the ground, scratching behind Churro’s ears. “Nah, Churro’s harmless.” He holds up the bruised arm, “It’s his relatives you need worry about. Churros was the runt of his pack. Would have died if I didn’t get to him. Pack didn’t really appreciate me taking away their kill though. I made a mental note after that encounter to never piss off a Hunks-hug.”

Hunk looks at the creature again before inching forward. He freezes when it lifts its head, sniffing at his outstretched fingers. It doesn’t seem to care though and resumes its previous position allowing Hunk to brush his hand over its head and back. “What did you call him again?”

Lance’s face flushes a little as he looks anywhere but Hunk, “Well, **his** name is Churro. But I named his species Hunks-hugs.”

“You named a cat species after Hunk?” Keith says as he sits down on a nearby stone. “Did you name something after all of us or something?”

“Actually, yeah.” He glances up toward the sky, it’s a shade of purple much darker then when they landed. “Here help me set up a fire real quick and I can show you guys Allura’s.”

With five people and forest all around it doesn’t take much time before a decent sized fire is roaring in the small clearing around the blue lion’s head. Lance pulls out a couple hollowed logs, arranging them around the fire and motions for everyone to sit. After everyone is arranged comfortably, Shiro, Hunk, and Keith sitting on the logs, Pidge on the ground closer to the fire, Lance once again reaches into a pouch on his waist.

This one sits on his other hip, and after a moment of searching he removes a white flower. He shows it around, its white with four smooth petals and a pink center. Overall it looks very elegant and bringing it in front of his face dramatically, Lance speaks,” This fine beauty is an Allura’s Whisper. Pretty hard to find but they have a wonderful effect.”

He begins to roll the flower into a small log shape as Pidge leans forward, “What do they-“ They’re cut off in confusion as Lance takes the now rolled flower and lights one end in the fire. His teammate’s eyes follow his hand as he brings the flower to his lips, eyes fluttering shut as he breathes in. Nobody moves as he exhales a cloud of pink smoke. He glances back over to Pidge with a dopey smile, “Great for relaxation.”

Hunk gets up and takes Lances shoulders in his hands. “Lance, buddy, pal, I know you’ve been stuck here for a while. I get it. But you know you’re smoking a flower right? You’re smoking space weed.” Lance seems to be staring past him, pupils blown to the point that his irises have almost disappeared. Hunk turns to Shiro in desperation, “Shiro is he allowed to do this?’

Before he can reply Lance steps back out of Hunks grip, phasing back to reality, “I’ve been stuck here for almost five months. I can fucking smoke if I want to." His cold tone makes Hunk flinch before he returns to humor. "Hell I’ve got enough for you to try if you want.” He takes another shot of smoke, punctuating his next sentence with smoke rings. “It’s,” puff, “nice.”

Hunk waves his hand and sits back down next to Keith. Lance takes his seat on the other log in between Shiro and Pidge. “Suit yourself.” He glances around their makeshift circle holding out his ‘blunt.’ “Anybody else? I’ll be getting more to take back to the castle anyway.”

Pidge lets out a soft ‘fuck it’ as they take the flower and breath in. Their stuttering coughs make Lance chuckle as he takes it back for another hit. “It’s okay Pidge, you get used to it after a bit.”

Pidges face is red from exertion, then scrunched together questioning, “Why does it taste like cotton candy?”

Lance shrugs his shoulders, blowing out another cloud. “Don’t know. Found out how they could do this when I accidentally dropped my handful into my fire. Thought they were pretty at first. Then they became something to pass the time.”

A flicker of worry passes over a few faces at Lances tone before Pidge speaks up again. “You said you named something after all of us didn’t you? Do you think you could show us tomorrow when we go to gather supplies? I’d like to know what you named after me.” The others mumble in agreement.

“Sure I don’t mind.” He glances at the sky once more before crushing his blunt beneath his foot. “It’s getting late now though so we all ought to hit the sack. You guys can sleep in Blue or your pod. I don’t care which just don’t sleep outside.” With that he walks into the blue lion’s jaws, the team shuffling in behind him.

As they enter the lion the first thing they notice is the plants. The entire cockpit of the lion is covered in a variety of vines, each holding anything from piles of small grey skins to what looks like water skins. (Not to mention that the whole cockpit is on its side.) Off to the left there’s a decent sized pile of dried leaves and skins that looks like it could barely fit one person comfortably. Lance reaches it, flopping over and is soon joined by Churro who curls up behind his back. He’s out instantly.

The rest of the paladins find somewhere to lay down or lean against a wall without disturbing anything. They settle down and soon all but Pidge are asleep. As they roll over a soft grunt leaves them when something pokes into their side. Looking over their shoulder, an edge of brown is poking out of one of Blue’s control panels. Checking that the others are asleep, they pull it out and discover a journal of sorts. Turning to the front page they’re met with the shaky words ‘Day One’ written at the top. They begin to read.

_Day One_

_Hi. I’m Lance, paladin of Voltron, savior of the universe and all that. Today is my first day on this planet after I crashed. I can’t hear anything from Blue and I’m a little worried. I can’t seem to get in contact with any of the team either. At lease I wasn’t hurt bad when I crashed. I think I hit my face on my control panel though. The skin on my jaw seems to be split but I don’t think its deadly or anything._

_I went outside of Blue for a short bit. At least this place is kind of pretty though I haven’t seen any animal life. As pretty as it is though I need to find my team. I can’t give up hope that they’re alive and looking for me too. What kind of paladin would I be if I gave up?_

_I’m scared though. I’m all alone here. I don’t even have Blue and my suit took most of my damage in the fall. I don’t have that or my bayard. How am I supposed to get by without anything but myself to talk to?_

Here Pidge runs their fingers over some warped spots on the page. Tears?

_I need to stop writing and go to sleep. There’s no point in guessing what could happen. I’ll just think ‘what would the others do?’ and do my best. Yeah._

The bottom of the page has a small brown smear on the corner but as Pidge turns to read the next entry someone shifts, startling them. Next time they’ll read it. They tuck the book back where they found it, and let sleep overtake them.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thankyou for reading. If you like it drop me a kudos or a comment. :3


	3. Shiro's Guidance

The team is woken by the smell of breakfast cooking outside. One by one, the paladins shuffle outside of the lion to the scene of Lance cooking, something purplish with orange flecks over the fire. They return to their seats from the night before as Pidge takes note of the sky. “Lance what are you doing? It’s still dark.”

Lance keeps his attention on the food, “if we’re gathering more supplies the first thing we need to do is go get water for the trip and water to bring back. It needs to be dark to find the water and properly show Shiro’s plant.”

Hunk leaned over in an attempt to see Lance’s face, “Hey man you sound a little rough you okay?”

Lance shrugged as he began handing out small chunks of, whatever that was, on sticks to the group. “I’m fine. Eat quickly we need to get going.”

“You don’t sound fine Lance, hey, look at me man.”

Lance looked up, his eyes red and puffy, a scowl marring his face. “I’m **fine** Hunk.” He glances around the circle as everyone finishes their ‘breakfast.’ “Get ready quickly. We need to get going in time to be there before the sun rises.” With that he stands and returns to the lion. Leaving the group to their own devices. When he returns he holds a stack of pouches, Churro tailing behind him. He circled the group, handing three pouches to each paladin, keeping four for himself. “These are water pouches. Please try not to lose them.”

Everyone nods, and after the fire is put out. They follow Lance onto a worn path.

 ----------

The trek is short, maybe half an hour or so. All but Lance slow when a purple glow becomes visible ahead. Shiro places his hand on Lance’s shoulder, halting him for a moment. “Lance are you sure this is safe?”

Lance lets a small smile loose. “Yeah trust me you guys are gonna love this.” With that he walks through some leaves and disappears.

The others rush through, but freeze when their eyes register what they’re seeing.

A small lake of dark murky water sits in a clearing of black grass. Surrounding the lake are small purple flowers similar to daisies. The flowers however are glowing, a color almost exactly that of Shiro’s galra arm. Lance makes a grand gesture towards the lake, “These,” he nods towards Shiro, “are called Shiro’s Guidance.”

The group makes their way toward the water, Shiro walking alongside Lance in the back. “Lance, these are, this is—“

“I know Shiro.” The two share a look and make their way over to the water’s edge to join the others.

Lance starts filling his bags first as the others stare. Keith is the first to pipe up. “Uh, Lance, the water is gray. I’m pretty sure we can’t drink gray water.”

Lance fills his last bag before looking up. “Trust me fill your bags just don’t drink the water yet until I’ve purified it.”

The others lean down and begin, still unsure. “What exactly are we gonna purify it with Lance? We didn’t purification tablets with us.” Keith says.

At this point everyone appears to finish filling their bags. Lance calls them around him and holds out his own water bag. “Here watch. Shiro’s Guidance only grows near fresh water. But it also works to purify.” He pulls a knife from his back, the others flinching slightly. When did he get that? He ignores them and swiftly cuts a handful at mid stem. “Never rip them up. They won’t grow back if the roots are damaged.” With all watching he drops one of the flowers into his bag. Almost magically the water shifts from gray to a crisp light blue.

Hunks eyes go comically large, “Wow dude that’s so cool!” Even Pidge appears slightly intrigued. Keith is the only to voice protest. “How do we know that flower is safe? It glows Lance.”

Lance blinks before pointing about 30 feet away towards a small rat like creature. Its mouth was stuffed to the point of bulging, purple coming out at the edges. Hunk laughs, wrapping an arm around Keith’s shoulders. “Relax Keith, I’m pretty sure Lance knows what he’s doing.”

Lance brings out a cocky smile, “Yeah mullet I know what I’m doing.”

Keith gestures towards Lances head, “Oh, you’re one to talk. Look in a damn mirror lately?”

Lance pauses, fingers coming to the back of his skull to run through the now longer hair. It had grown almost an inch and half since he last remembered. His eyes go cold, a one-eighty turn from previous. “No Keith, I actually haven’t looked in a mirror lately. I was a little more preoccupied with surviving.”

Keith looks away, a small flash of guilt replaced by a frown. Shiro steps between them, “Boys, now isn’t the ti-“

“Churro wait!” Hunks frantic yell echoes as Churro darts after the rat from before, tearing through the flowers sending them skidding. Hunk attempts to follow the creature before Lance grabs his wrist holding him back.

“Let him go Hunk he knows what he’s doing.” Lance stares into the section of forest Churro disappeared into. Only to laugh when the cat stalked back in, the focus of its chase being crushed to death in its tail. “You got a decent one this time buddy didn’t you?”

Hunk pales as Churro brings the  not yet dead rat towards his mouth, still wrapped in his tail and starts tearing in. “I’m gonna be sick.”

Lance pats his back reassuringly. “Nah man this is nothing. Wait until you see one of the normal ones.”

Pidge readjusts their glasses, “If Churro’s a runt, a young one at that, how big are other Hunks-hugs normally?”

Lance brings his hand to a chin, thinking, after a moment he waves his hand back and forth mid-thigh, “Well if Churro’s about this tall I’d say a fully grown adult is about this big.” Here he waves his hand about a foot above his head.

Hunk pales even further, wow this planet was crazy, before laughing shakily, “wow dude, how did you not get your arm broken?”

Lance glances to the side, oddly silent. It isn’t until Shiro speaks up that the silence is broken. “Lance. Can I see your arm?”

Lance pulls his arm toward his chest, shielding it with the other arm, “Wow look at the time! Let’s finish getting our water and get going yeah?”

“Lance.”

“Shiro.”

“ **Lance.”**

Lance sighs, holding out the bruised arm dejectedly. He grumbles under his breath, “It’s fine now just drop it.”

Shiro inspects it briefly, prodding around and glancing up periodically to check Lance’s reactions. ”I guess its fine. It doesn’t seem broken anymore. You’re going into a healing pod first thing when we get back to the castle though.”

Lance pulls his arm back, “Technically I didn’t break it. I only cracked it. Besides its fine now.”

Shiro doesn’t look happy, but appears to grudgingly accept the situation. “I’ll let it go for now. Where to next?”

Lance straightens up, a bit of cocky attitude returning. “There’s a clearing about a mile from here with a bunch of fruit and some bigger rats we can catch. Everybody put a flower in each of their waters?” Everyone nods in agreement and follows Lance away from the lake back into the forest, the sun rising up over the horizon. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thankyou for reading! Drop a kudos or a comment (or both) if you liked it. :3


	4. Keith Berries and Maria's Cobra

The trek to the clearing is mostly uneventful other than a few stumbles. As the paladins work their way through the last layer of underbrush a small area bordered by trees of grey bark and orange leaves greets them. The trees, true to Lance’s name, all have a loop about midway up their trunk and look strangely like palm trees.

Lance marches forward, beckoning the others to circle around him as he leans on one of the trees. “Okay. The fruit grows up there in the loop.” A wave of a hand directs the paladins to the hanging buds. “If it’s orange or yellow grab it. Blue means it's either gone bad or it’s not ripe. Now, watch the master for a moment.” He grabs hold of seemingly surface, and the team gasps as his hand sinks in like putty. He grips it till it forms a small handle and begins to trudge upward, working his way to sit on top of the loop. From there he grins down the ten foot drop, snatching a fruit and tossing it down to land in Hunk’s hands. “Now here’s the best part!”

Lance acknowledges Shiro’s worried call of _be careful Lance_ with a small wave of a free hand as he reaches the top of the thirty foot tree. From there he wraps his legs around the thinnest part of the tree just beneath the leaves and lets his hands loose to pull out his knife. He cuts five leaves and lets them drop below before making his own way down and dropping, almost too gracefully for Lance, to the ground.

“Okay you got one fruit and a bunch of leaves. What now?”

“Patience Keith, okay guys the leaves will fold up pretty well to hold the fruit. You guys ever fold a burrito? Same idea. You can fit about ten or twelve fruit in before it reaches the max.” He points to each paladin as their name comes up. “Shiro, Hunk, and Pidge you guys collect fruit. Pidge I’d recommend you get the fruit and Hunk catches and wraps. Shiro you play safety dad.” Shiro doesn’t have time to comment before Lance turns to Keith. “Mullet you’re with me. Come on.”

The others begin to work on gathering as Lance leads Keith over to a short bush with red berries. “Keith, this is your plant. Keith berries.”

“Original Lance.”

“Shut up and watch. Don’t you wanna know what they do?” Keith doesn’t interject so Lance continues. “Okay, never eat these. It’ll probably kill you. They’re like super acidic I think.”

Keith raises an eyebrow. “You think? How’d you figure that out?”

Lance points to the burnt shin smiling awkwardly. “Hurts like hell.”

“How the actual fuck did you manage to get berry juice on your entire shin. What’d you do try to bath in it?!”

Suddenly the forest is very interesting as Lance elaborates. “Well, actually I think something was hording them but I stepped in the hole that had a bunch and basically liquefied them. I thought I’d stepped in an ant hole or something at first.”

“Only you Lance.” Keith says as he shakes his head a little. Wow this guy was unobservant.

“Hey you would’ve stepped in it too! It was hidden!”

“Sure.”

The two banter for a moment more when Keith pause, resting his hand on Lance's shoulder. "It's good to have you back Lance." He smiles, really just a quick rising of the edge of his mouth that Lance returns. 

Pidge’s call from the other side of the area catches everyone’s attention. “Hey Lance what do you call this thing?” The next thing anyone can register is a blur shooting across the area. “PIDGE NO!”

Something yanks at the back of Pidge’s shirt as they’re thrown backwards onto the ground, shock flashing across their face as the large blue flower they’d been looking at seemed to grow teeth and snap towards their face. It’s almost in slow motion that Lance is in front of them, knife in hand and shoving his way into the creatures mouth, blade piercing the top of its jaw. Not before small jagged teeth close around his forearm though.

The battle is over quickly with Lance wrestling the creature to the ground and out of the underbrush. A long grey body is revealed from behind the blue flower. As Pidge recovers from the fact that, wow they almost died there, Shiro and Hunk are busy pulling apart the snake critter’s jaw open to remove Lance’s arm. It has quite a literal death grip that takes Shiro cutting its head off with his hand to relax the jaw enough to get Lance out.

Lance looks up from his arm, now bleeding rather profusely, to look each paladin in the eyes, locking eyes with Pidge in the end. “That’s a Maria’s Cobra. Named after my mother. Yeah they’re beautiful but also deadly.  Never go near one and if you have to take it out just don’t. Avoid it. Go around and for fucks sake don’t get bit.”

Shiro takes Lances arm, ignoring the hiss of pain as he pulls a bandage from his suit and begins to wrap the cuts. “Lance I’d lecture you about taking unnecessary risks but for now I’m more concerned about your arm. Why shouldn’t we ever get bit besides the obvious?”

Lance stands as Shiro finishes his makeshift bandaging. “We need to get back to Blue. And quickly.” He takes off in a run, the others following behind him. Shiro decides that he’ll work the info out of Lance when they return.

They only make it about a quarter mile before Lance’s face starts to take an unhealthy shade of red. It’s at the halfway point that he has to stop and lean against a tree, deep breathes forcing him to double over.

“Lance you need to tell us what’s going to happen now.”

Lance forces his head up, pupils blown. “It won’t kill me. I’m gonna hallucinate though. Don’t let me leave the lion.”

Shiro nods and Lance lets himself collapse into the man’s chest. He registers being picked up and carried before he lets the dark overtake him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Don't worry i won't leave you on a cliffhanger for long! Chapter five has already been planned and it'll be out soon if i get the time to type it.


	5. Hallucinations and Revelation

When Lance comes to consciousness the world sounds like he’s underwater, and as his eyelids crack open it seems to look it too. A blur of waving silver and green disrupted by occasional colored shapes greets his eyes. Something makes noise off to his left, but he only catches a few syllables. “I Th—k wa—ng up. L—c--?” That something appears in front of him gripping his shoulders, but Lance can’t focus on it. What does catch his attention has his head whipping so fast the figure in front of him jumps.

“Lance, vamos! Cenas preparados que estamos a la espera de usted!” The young voice cuts through the swirls of his mind. It’s Carlos! His brother was here! Lance starts to stand before something pushes him back down. He fights it, gasping when the pressure releases only for it to wrap around him from behind, trapping his arms to his chest. The calls of his siblings only urge him to fight more.

It’s Rosie this time. “Come oooon Lance! Estúpido hermano no quiere ver?”

Lance starts yelling, they have to know he’s here. They won’t leave without him right? “No wait! I’m coming guys.  Por favor, no me dejes! Te extrañé mucho. Sólo dame un minuto por favor.” He starts to kick but a red weight settles over his shins rendering his struggles useless. More of his family rings out to him. Distant calls of _hurry up silly_ and _don’t you love us_ reach his ears until they begin to fade.

The final voice of the crowd that rings is his fathers. “What a disgrace. Ni siquiera puede venir a ver a su familia. Debe odiar a nosotros no es así? ¿Por qué nos dejaste a Lance? ¿No adios?”

Something wet and warm moves down his face but he takes no notice as he tries to stop his family. “No don’t leave me please! Lo siento. Por favor no me dejes. No quiero estar solo. He estado solo durante tanto tiempo yo sólo quiero verte!” The voices fade and no matter how hard he struggles and screams his restraints just get tighter and the voices softer. He goes slack after the silence persists and the sound of water returns. They left him. Something shakes in his chest and the wet feeling gets worse.

A gentle and worn voice instantly calms him. “Lance my baby. ¿Por qué lloras? No hay nada de que temer. Estoy aquí a mi hijo. Ven y dar a su madre un abrazo.” His mother stands infront of him and Lance freezes. She looks just like he remembered her. A woman of short stature and bronze skin. She had fine lines of a graceful ageing with almost shocking blue eyes. Her hair was pulled into a messy bun, her yellow dress shifting in an invisible wind.

“Mom.” The arms around him froze before tightening once more. He began to struggle even further as his mother held her hand out, concern working its way across her face.

“Lance, don’t you want to hug your mother?” Her hand is right there. It’s so close but so far. He can’t get free, why can’t he get free? He just wants to see his mother.

His mother’s hand retracts and tears well in her eyes. “It’s okay. I understand.” A wet smile forms. “You’re all grown up now. You don’t need me anymore.” She turns away and Lance loses it.

“Mama no! Don’t leave me please. No me dejes.” He swings his head backwards and something gives behind him with a wet crunch. The grip on his arms go slack and Lance jolts, throwing off those on his legs. He books it for his mother, almost grabbing her shoulder, almost there. But now the floor is approaching much too quickly and he hits the ground. A green blur holding onto his knees despite his screams pins him in place as his mother leaves the lion.

Lance goes limp. His mother left him. His mom left him alone, he was all alone again. He lays there, not noticing when something yellow hoists him up and wipes his face free of wetness. His eyes and chest hurt. But his chest hurts somewhere deep inside. Like a balmeran crystal had sealed around his heart.

The yellow blur wraps something around him. _Arms_ his mind supplies, and it pulls him into a gentle hold. It’s more comforting than constricting and Lance lets his head fall forward into the thing’s neck, deflating into its chest as the tears rain down. It shushes him as other masses gather around to hold him until his eyes are too heavy and the embrace too warm to resist sleep.

 ----------

Hunk sets Lance down gently on his makeshift bed, careful not to disturb him from his slumber. He glances around, taking in the shocked and concerned faces of his friends. Lances screams had been awful and shook them to the core.

He turns to Shiro, “We’re gonna have to set your nose if we want it to heal properly.” Lance had crushed Shiro’s nose in his panic. There was no doubt it was an accident, but it was still going to hurt. Hunk sat down in front of his leader, holding out a handkerchief pulled from his pocket. Shiro takes it and wipes the blood drying on his face before holding it under his still bleeding nose. Hunk places a hand at the back of Shiro’s head, one on his nose, a snap and gasp of pain later and the nose is set. The bleeding seems to have stopped for now.

The paladins share a look of agreement and settle around Lance, forming a sort of oval around him. As each falls asleep one by one, Pidge is the last. As Keith’s breath evens out in sleep Pidge stands. Making their way quietly over to the journal. It’s in a slightly different place from last time but that doesn’t deter them.

If Lance knew he would hallucinate he had been bitten before right? He had to have an entry in here somewhere about it. They scanned the pages, small tales of minor injuries and thoughts of home met them until they struck gold.

_Day 72 (I think)_

_Something bit me today. A snake with a huge blue flower around its neck bit me on the shoulder when I got to close. I should have though first, pretty usually equals dangerous right? I don’t remember fighting it off. I remember what I saw in the hallucinations though. I think it’s going to stick with me for a long time._

_I remember I kept seeing different people on the team. First it was Keith. Go figure. I remember being so excited. I thought they had come to rescue me after a forever. But when I called out to him he laughed at me and ran. I chased him for what seemed an eternity. I wandered for a while before I saw Hunk and the same thing happened. It happened with everyone I kept seeing them and they kept running and laughing and I was crying and they still ran ahead of me. I passed out at some point from exhaustion. When I woke up I happened to be close enough to see Blue over the treetops. I got really lucky. Maybe I could get a little more luck and the team will actually come and get me._

Pidge’s eyebrows furrowed. So that’s what happened last time. If the journal was moved maybe Lance wrote about what was up yesterday. They glanced over to the others, still out cold. They flipped to the last entry of the journal and continued reading.

 

        _Day 154_

_The team came to rescue me yesterday. I was so happy to see them! I think I may have scared them a bit with all the new scars. It didn’t help the nightmare though. Ever since the Maria’s Cobra bit me I keep having that same dream. The one where I see the team but I can’t catch up to them. It was a bit different this time though. I saw us in battle and my mistake got us killed. We were on this planet and they died under my watch. I kept seeing them die again and again and it was always because I wasn’t strong enough! The worst part was the last part though. I heard them laughing and when I found them they had a new pilot for Blue and they left me here, Blue’s connection ripping from my mind. I don’t think I want to sleep anymore._

Pidge set the book in their lap, staring ahead. How insecure was Lance? He knew they would never leave him right? They thought for another moment or two, contemplating sharing their learned knowledge with the rest of the team when Lances voice startled them, “Pidge, what are you doing with that?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Everything is google translate so please don't judge too hard?
> 
> Translations:  
> Lance, vamos! Cenas preparados que estamos a la espera de usted - Lance come on! Dinner is ready!  
> Estúpido hermano no quiere ver ? - Stupid brother don't you want to see us?  
> Por favor, no me dejes! Te extrañé mucho. Sólo dame un minuto por favor - Please don't leave me! I missed you a lot just one more minute please.  
> Ni siquiera puede venir a ver a su familia . Debe odiar a nosotros no es así? ¿Por qué nos dejaste a Lance ? ¿No adios? - He won't even come see his family. Why do you hate us? Why did you leave us Lance? No goodbye?  
> Lo siento. Por favor no me dejes. No quiero estar solo. He estado solo durante tanto tiempo yo sólo quiero verte ! - I'm sorry. Please don't leave me. I don't want to be alone. I've been alone for so long I just want to see you!  
> ¿Por qué lloras? No hay nada de que temer. Estoy aquí a mi hijo . Ven y dar a su madre un abrazo. - Why are you crying? There is nothing to fear. I'm here my son. Come and give your mother a hug.  
> No me dejes - Don't leave me


	6. Pidge-Hoppers and Group Hugs

Pidge freezes, grip tightening on the book as they slam it shut. They turn their head, surprised to find that Lance doesn’t even look angry. He just looks kind of, sad? Pidge takes a deep breath and contemplates for a second before making their choice. Run or fight. Fight. “Lance you can’t bottle this kind of stuff up. You have to share stuff like this with the team. It’s not healthy.”

Lance looks at his feet, shrugging as he shuffles towards Pidge, stepping over his sleeping friends carefully. “I was going to at some point, maybe. Probably…”

Pidge glares at him, and Lance corrects his statement. “Okay probably not but if I have to talk about this let’s go outside. I don’t want to wake the others. Besides, I might be able to show you something.”

Pidge nods and follows Lance out of the lion, gently placing the book back where it goes. When they step outside Lance has started a tiny fire and is already in the process of rolling a flower. He motions for Pidge to sit on a log as he lights it. Dousing the flame with dirt, he takes his place across from them. “Be quiet for a bit and they’ll come out.”

Pidge cocks their head to the side. Who’ll come out? It’s only a few moments before their question is answered in the form of a small tan frog leaping out from the underbrush. It leaps closer to them, revealing small green wings on its back.

Lance tenses before jumping out and snatching the animal up in his hands, gentle but firm. His fingers support its underbelly as his thumbs hold its wings in place. Bringing it back to Pidge he elaborates. “This is a Pidge-Hopper. From what I’ve seen the entire species is the same gender. Actually they just don’t have one. They’re nocturnal and pretty chill until food comes around.” He places the creature into Pidge’s hands, smiling as they duck down to look closer at their namesake.

The creature stares back at the smallest paladin before croaking to show rows of sharp teeth. Pidge jolts backward dropping the creature, but the frog just flies itself back over to the forest before disappearing into the trees. Pidge stares after it before turning back to a chuckling Lance.

“Cute aren’t they?” He blows out a cloud of smoke and settles onto the log opposite of Pidge. “Now, what do you want to know? This is as open as I’m gonna be.”  


Pidge places a hand on their chin, considering. “How about we start with that dream. You have to share stuff like that Lance. We’re your team.”

Lance takes a deep draw, pink spilling from his lips as he answers. “I know I should Pidge I just…”

Pidge moves across the space to rest a hand on Lance’s shoulder. “What Lance? Why can’t you tell us?”

Lance’s shout has Pidge flinching backwards, hand coming back towards their chest. “I don’t want to burden you guys! My problems shouldn’t weigh you down.”

Pidge yells back with just as much ferocity. “What about **you** Lance?! The team needs you and anything that hurts you hurts this team.”

“That’s just it Pidge!” He stands up and begins to pace back and forth across the clearing. If Pidge notices his eyes getting wet they don’t mention it. “You guys don’t need me. What am I there for? Shiro is our leader. Keith can fight and fly amazingly. You can hack almost any tech like a computer genius. Hunk can fix anything and makes food worthy of gods. But what do I do? I’m just idiot Lance. A failure of a pilot who left his family to fight a ten thousand year old ruler of the galaxy with the hope that just maybe, **maybe** , I won’t die before I can go home-“

Lance pauses and drops the flower as a warm weight settles around his waist. A glance down confirms it to be Pidge, arms wrapped around him and face buried into his sternum. “That’s not true Lance. This team is nothing without you. You hold us together. We almost fell apart completely without you there. Keith nearly died of exhaustion he spent so much time in the training room and Shiro’s flashbacks got even worse. I worked till I passed out just to get up and work again. Even Hunk was worse for wear. He stopped eating and spent all his time searching for you. We could never replace you Lance.”

Lance leans down, wrapping his arms around Pidge’s shoulders. “Thanks Pidge.” A sniffle rings out from their right as Hunk hugs both of them from the side. “I love you guys.”

Lance looks up at Hunk, then to Shiro and Keith making their way from Blue. “How much of that did you guys hear?”

Shiro shares a look with Keith before turning back to Lance. “We heard enough to confirm that Pidge is right Lance.” The two settle themselves under Hunks arms, completing the group hug.

A few moments pass before Lance speaks up. “Uh guys. I love the group hug and all but I think we’ve crossed the line between comforting and awkward.” The team separates and Lance turns towards Shiro, taking in the swollen nose. “Oh god Shiro did I do that?”

Shiro waves a hand nonchalantly. “I’m fine Lance it’s really not that bad. Besides you weren’t really yourself then.”

“That doesn’t make it fine.” Lance turns toward Blue and begins walking. “I might have something in Blue that could heeee-“He trips over something yellow and hits the ground on his front, the air rushing out of his lungs. A groan leaves his chest as something heavy settles on the small of his back. “Chuuurrooooo. Get oooofffff.” Lance starts to struggle until Churro beings licking the back of his head sternly. Lance whines again, but gives up and pillows his head in crossed arms. The whole situation is pretty comical. It’s kicked off with Pidge chuckling, but soon after all of team Voltron is laughing, voices ringing out into the night. It’s nice to have his family back.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm so sorry it took so long to update. I had a family emergency and then I got sick. (I still am actually). I hope you liked the chapter though. A special thanks to my friend Jasmine at king--of-wolves.tumblr.com for beta reading for me.


	7. The Rescue (And Coran Beetles)

The rest of the day is spent gathering extra supplies with a bit more caution than their last attempt. Lance, much to the lament of the others goes to gather more of his ‘special helper.’ The morning is surprisingly uneventful as the sun rises above the jungle and upon arrival back to the blue lion lunch is prepared. It’s when Shiro’s com rings that things explode into a small bit of chaos.

“Paladins, prepare to board the castle. Don’t worry about the blue lion or the pods. The other lions will gather them.” The paladins spring into action at the sound of Allura’s voice, breaking down camp and rushing to where the castle can be seen coming in through the atmosphere.

“Allura what happened to two weeks?"

The voice that answers Pidge is not the princesses, but Coran’s. “Finger counting I tell ya. Just not as reliable as it used to be.”

They gather near the landing sight, but far enough away to avoid injury and as the castle is landing the other lions fly out. The black, yellow and red lions each grab a part of the blue and begin flying it back; green takes the pod in its teeth and follows behind its companions. The group rushes in as the castle doors fall open. They shut behind the paladins, but not before a yellow shadow comes in behind them. A sharp laugh echoes through the corridors. “Ha…ha…hahahaha! We’re alive! I’m alive!” Lance skips around the entryway bouncing and chuckling before Shiro puts a hand on his shoulder to stop him.

“Lance, you can celebrate later, but for now you need to get into a healing pod.” Shiro turns his head towards where the control room would be and activates his com. “Allura, we’re on board. Lance needs a healing pod, even if it’s not life threatening. We’ll meet you there.” Shiro ushers the teens towards the pod bay, letting a smile of relief slip onto his face as the telltale jolt of a wormhole shakes the castle.

When they reach the pod bay Allura and Coran are already there. Lance barely makes it two steps in before his vision is filled with white hair and the princess is trying to break his back with a  hug. He pats her back and grunts as she sets him down. (Wow she was strong.) “It’s good to have you back Lance. You were thoroughly missed.”

Lance grins sheepishly. “Aw thanks. Oh yeah I have something I brought back for you!” The team groans collectively as he pulls out a familiar white flower. “I called it an Allura’s Whisper.”

The princess gathers the flower in her hands gently before tucking it into her hair. “I will treasure it forever Lance. Thankyou.”

Lance waves his hand as a sort of ‘you’re welcome’ before turning to Coran. “Coran my man. Meet the Coran Beetle.” Out of his pouch Lance produces an orange beetle half the size of his palm. Surprisingly enough, the mandibles form an almost carbon copy of Coran’s moustache.

Coran takes the creature gently, smiling when it chitters. “Thank you Lance. I’m going to call him Alfor the Second.”

Lance makes his way to the pod stepping in, signaling for Allura to start the process. “Oh yeah don’t worry about feeding him Coran. He eats like the algae and germs in the air or something.” Closing his eyes the door shuts, and Lance allows the dark to take him. There will be no nightmares this night.

One by one the group leaves the pod room, though Hunk and Pidge are the last ones. “Hey Hunk, do you think Lance is gonna have withdrawal problems? He doesn’t have any way to get more of that flower now. I’m actually a bit worried.” Pidge turns to the yellow paladin, eyebrows pinching at the smile on his face.

“Nah. He snuck some seeds into his bag. I think he’s going to try and grow his own on the ship.” With that the two make their way from the room, neither glancing back to see the pink vines and white flowers working their way out of Lance’s pack.

 

 

 

 

“Allura? When did that get on board?”

“When did wha-"

“Mrow.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thankyou for staying with me this far! It's been quite the experience writing this fic.  
> Another special thanks to my beta reader Jasmine at king--of-wolves.tumblr.com  
> I hope you all enjoyed the fic! If so drop me a comment or a kudos (or both)

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you so much for reading! This is my first fic pretty much ever so feel free to give out constructive criticism i really appreciate it.
> 
> Feel free to come and say hi to me on my tumblr at im-awkward-but-social.tumblr.com


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